Pagan Meme Questions

I recently participated in this swap for a group I'm in on Swap-bot.com and thought I'd share my answers here.

B A S I C S
* Do you have a magical/Pagan name? * How did you find Paganism? * How long have you been practicing? * Are you out of the broom closet? * Solitary or group practitioner? * What is your path?

I do not have a magical name - yet. I found out through books, study, and a few friends but mostly through my own interests and doing the research via books, library, internet. I've had my way of thinking about religious interests changed for about a decade now, I would say I am halfway out of the broom closet. My family knows I have varying beliefs from them, my parents are supportive, but folks from my past are not aware. I am solitary, and I study the path of the druid. I feel I am still very very new, and still figuring out what I believe and what I don't believe because I was filled with so many lies through my life.


D E I T Y
 * What’s your brand of deism? * Who is your patron God? * Who is your patron Goddess? * What Gods do you worship? * Do you fear darkly aspected Gods/Goddesses, or rather respect them? * Do you worship the Christian God? * Do you worship animals? Or plants?

At one time I was a monotheistic druid, and I still feel like I follow that path except I do not believe in the christian god as christians do. I believe there is a force, a powerful force that we call "god" that did put things into motion, but the god isn't like what people think where every single thing you do is being watched and weighed. It was put into motion, but not a personal relationship available with the "god". As for other deities, I believe that gods and goddesses worship extended from us trying to understand how the world and nature worked. I believe that our gods and goddesses and spirits are aspects of the greater power, that assist us in understanding and finding peace with the world. I love all the various religion's main female "mother goddess" deity. Especially those that are represented as fertility goddesses with the large hips and breasts. I do not have a patron god or goddess at this time but it is something I am working on, and progressing wtih. I respect both dark and light aspected deities. I do not worship animals or plants, but I do see them as vessels of spirit.


N A T U R E
* Do you regularly commune with nature? * Taken a camping trip just to talk to nature? * Describe the moment you felt closest to Mother Earth? * Do you have a familiar? * Have you ever called upon the powers of an animal in ritual? * Or a plant? * Do you hug trees? * Give them gifts? * What are your favourite plants to work with? * What are your favourite trees to work with?

Yes I regularly commune with nature. I have not camped due to my disability but I regularly go on walks in the forest, travel to waterfalls or lakes or the ocean, or the salt marsh, or botanical gardens and this is where I feel closest to the spirit of "god". One moment I felt very close to Mother Earth was at a waterfall. I was able to go to the edge, and I could hear the power of the water, and I was very high up and it not only frightened me but exalted me, and brought me great joy. Nature is powerful, even in the babbling of a brook, or the crack of thunder, or a simple rainshower, or the crinkling of autumn leaves in the wind. I do not have a familiar but I have a wonderful cat called Ember that I feel very protected by.  I have called on various animals during rituals, depending on the ritual. I have hugged trees, I have only given them the gift of my respect and prayers. My favorite plants are flowers. My favorite trees are oaks. The best tree I ever visited is the Angel Oak on the coast of SC. It is an amazing, elderly oak tree that touched me when I went to see her.

W H E E L  O F   T H E  Y E A R 
* What is your favourite holiday? . * What is your least favourite holiday? * Have you ever held a ritual on a holiday? * Ever taken a day off work to celebrate a Pagan holiday? * Do you celebrate Yule on the 21st rather than the 25th? * Have you ever felt the veil thin? * Ever danced the Maypole? * How do you usually celebrate the Pagan holidays?

Samhain, or Winter Solstice are my favorite holidays. Least favorite... I guess I would not say I don't like it but anything around the Easter season isn't really something that speaks to me as super important. I have held rituals on holidays, mostly Winter Solstice. I have never taken a day off work but haven't worked in a while. I celebrate Yule on the 21st, but also celebrate with my family on the 25th who still do christmas trees and the like. I have definitely felt the veil thin, on many occasions. I am sensitive to that and sometimes it frightens me and that is one reason my cat Ember gives me peace about some things. I have danced the maypole a few times, once when I was a child.  Well my celebrations are different for various holidays as I'm sure everyone's are, but as far as Winter Solstice goes, it always involves feeding the birds. We pull our bird feeders before that, so that the birds who will fly south will not feel there is food for them here, and then on Winter solstice we put out food again for those that did not go south. I normally write a poem every year about the longest night of the year, and what solstice means to me and I read it out loud either by myself or with my mother as she while she isn't pagan by any means, does find interest in the things I do. In fact she's asked me to cleanse a plot of land they just bought for her, so she is open.


D I V I N A T I O N
 * Do you use Tarot? * Do you use runes? * Do you use a pendulum? * Do you use dowsing rods? * Do you use astrology? * Any other forms of divination?

I love tarot, and some have said I have a knack for it, but my husband is Christian and that is one thing he refuses to let me have a full deck in the house, it's just something he's been told is "evil" and he feels uncomfortable with it so we compromise and I collect a few cards here and there (mostly of the card Temperance) but not a whole set and I do not read tarot cards anymore. I love how runes look but do not know how to read them, but I have practiced and studied making bind runes. No, I've never used a pendulum or dowsing rods and I'm not huge into astrology. As for divination for myself I have very strange dreams and have dreamed of the future many times and so that is kind of a type of divination I suppose. I have dreamed of entire scenarios even as a child that have taken place in later years. I also have a knack (as does my mother) of reading body language extremely well.


S P E L L S
* What was the first spell you did? * What was the latest? * Ever done a love spell? * A job spell? * A healing spell? * What was the most powerful spell you’ve ever performed? * What deities do you usually call on?

First spell was a cleansing spell for my house as I felt unsafe. The latest was a spell to help my health. I've never done a love spell, I've done bind runes for jobs. Spells aren't really a huge focus on my druidism. It's more on the lines of finding peace and purpose and listening to what nature has to teach me, more than actual wiccan type spells. But I have done some healing spells, and written bindrunes and made "witch bottles" for healing and protection. The most powerful spell was the protection spell. I usually call upon the spirits of nature, not any one particular deity at this time.


C R Y P T O Z O O L O G Y
* Do you believe in vampires? * Werewolves? * Shapeshifters? * Elves? * Fairies? * Dragons? * Nymphs? * Sprites? * Mermaids? * Satyrs? *Ever “seen” any of the above? * Ever used any of the above in magic? * Do you have one of them as a personal guardian?

No, no vampires. No werewolves. Shapeshifting only in the form of mysticism where one actually has a "dream" of shifting and an animal or animals guide you. But not actual physical shifting. Elves, no, but I adore fantasy elves. Fairies... perhaps. Dragons, yes, I believe dragons once existed. perhaps not as fantasy would have us think of them but something akin to dragons. Nymphs... maybe. Sprites... same as fairies, maybe. Mermaids? No. Satyrs? No. No I've never seen any of those, and no, no personal guardian of them.


R A N D O M
* Do you see a rabbit, a man or a woman in the moon? * Own a cat? * When you meditate, what does your happy place look like? * Do you work with chakras? * Do you believe in past lives? * If so, describe a few briefly: * Do you believe in soul mates? * Do you have a spirit guide? * Is it always love and light?

I see a rabbit in the moon. Yes I own a beautiful sleek black cat named Ember. My meditation happy place is in a forest, beside a large creek, the water babbling over the rocks and the sound of nature around me and the warmth of the sun on my face. I've begun to study chakras, and have done some with gemstones on chakra points to assist with healing. I do believe in past lives, and I have dreams and visions of things that had to be in past lives but I have yet to determine exactly what any past lives I may have lived were. Perhaps Egyptian as I have a very extreme draw to that culture. I believe in soul mates but not like most do. I believe that when you find someone you mesh with, friend or lover, that they are your soul mate for that period of time but it can fade and you can find another at a different time that is perfect for that time of your life. No, it is not always love and light, not at all. I have so much darkness and I fight it every day... and some days I do not fight it and let it thrive. I do not have a spirit guide.

Me, A Terrorist?

I had to write up a funny story that happened to me for an email swap on swap-bot.com so I thought I'd share it here!

In October of 1994 I was nearing the end of my stay in Cyprus, which is a small Greek island in the Mediterranean. I'd been there several months, and wanted to go on one of the cruises to Israel and Egypt - since I figured I'd never get a chance like that again, and it was only around 90 cyprus pounds at the time which equalled about $180! A steal! Since I'd come to stay for so long in Cyprus, I had brought a foot locker with me, I didn't have a small suitcase at all. I had to borrow one from a new friend I'd made in Cyprus. First mistake - I didn't remove their luggage tags so it didn't have my name on it. Second mistake - no one wanted to go with me, so I went alone.

So, with my borrowed suitcase in hand, I was dropped off and left at the port to board the cruise ship. I headed towards the Israeli officials with my passport and ticket, and there's where the problems started. I happened to be the only American on the ship - everyone else was pretty much Greek or British (Or other European). I was traveling alone and then my suitcase didn't even belong to me. I was moved out of the line and taken back behind everything where they proceeded to question me. "Why are you here?" "Why did you come from America alone?" "What's in your suitcase?" "Why are you going to Israel?" etc etc etc over and over again with 3 or 4 different officials. I was told that I fit the look of a terrorist! They accused me of being a terrorist. Not fun.

They ran the metal detector over "my" suitcase and it kept going off - oh no. So, it was opened and searched thoroughly, finally they figured out that a golden page in a book I'd brought was setting the metal detector off (for those that know what it is - it was the gold page of my CEF bible!). They searched me, they ran the detector over me - I was in tears. I didn't know what was going to happen to me. I was still pretty young (21) and this (going to Cyprus) was my first trip overseas that I remembered. (I lived in Germany as a toddler). You hear horror stories of people tossed in prison for minor infractions....

But, eventually (after at least an hour or two) they finally let me board the ship. There was a cruise guy taking photographs as people arrived and he snapped my picture - imagine what I looked like after crying for over an hour, my clothes were falling out of my suitcase where they'd just closed it without putting everything in it (like a cartoon character) and I was unkempt from the searching. The next day I looked at the photo hanging in the main area of the ship and it was sooooo terrible, that I didn't buy it. But now I wish I had because it would have made a GREAT addition to the story!

By the way - to add insult to injury, I was placed with a roommate that spoke German, French, Spanish and I'm not sure what else - but NO English.
I was followed onto the bus by someone in Bethlehem asking to marry me, the bus driver had to threaten him to get him off.
Our bus in Egypt had a huge bullet hole in the front window. There are so many more stories I could tell about this trip...

But, overall I had a super time in Israel and Egypt and though the start was bad, it's something I'll definitely never forget.

Where on Earth Have I Been?

These are my answers for a recent email swap I did on swap-bot called "Where on Earth Have You Been?", it asked for you to name 10 places you've been that you really enjoyed and to tell a little about each place. This photo is one I took in Egypt.

1. Cairo, Egypt
One of the most amazing places I've ever visited. We went to the pyramids on the Giza Plateau, and I went inside the middle pyramid all the way to the center. I also saw the Sphinx which is in the same area. We went to the Cairo Museum, and I was able to see things that had come from King Tutankhamen's tomb including all the gold things. We had to be searched and go through a separate metal detector to go into the "gold" room. I tried my hand at bargaining with the vendors that tried to sell me things, and because I'd taken dollars and not cypriot pounds, I got everything half of what the others got things for since I would dicker until it was one dollar instead of one pound (2 dollars equalled 1 pound at that time). Our bus had a big bullet hole in the front glass, and we had armed soldiers watching over us at all times.

2. Niagara Falls, New York
I went to visit a friend of mine in Buffalo, NY in springtime, and there was a terrible ice storm. I am from the south so I was a little scared, especially since I had to drive in the snow and ice. They decided to take me to Niagara Falls, and it was very beautiful though the viewing area and all around the falls were all frozen. I wish I'd owned a nice camera at the time but I didn't so I didn't get many good photos of it but it was a great experience.

3. Bethlehem & Jerusalem, Israel
I took a cruise while living in Cyprus, Greece to both Israel and Egypt (see #1), so our first destination was Israel. We went to Bethlehem first, and I went into the church where they say Jesus was born, I put my hand into the hole in the floor to touch the rock they say he was born on. It was interesting, and the church was gorgeous. We then went to the Mount of Olives and I took some photos of Jerusalem in the distance, then into Jerusalem where we followed the Via Delorosa (the way Jesus supposedly traveled on his way to the cross). There was a spot in the wall all worn down where they say he put his hand to rest, I put my hand there as well. We went into the church where they say he was crucified, it was very extravagant and beautiful. We then went to the Wailing Wall, and saw people praying there. There was a woman's section and a male section to pray and stuff prayers into the old wall.

4. Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden near Charlotte, North Carolina
Last spring, we had the chance to see this garden and I took so many photos, it was crazy! All the spring flowers were in bloom, and they have an orchid conservatory that I had a great time taking photographs inside of. It's well worth a trip if you are ever in the area. It's laid out in various little gardens, and you can just walk through all over the area moving from one type of garden to the next. I also liked the topiaries they had.

5. Biltmore House and Gardens in Asheville, North Carolina
I have been to Biltmore House and Gardens twice now. Once was on our honeymoon, and we went on a behind the scenes tour. It's a gorgeous home. We also went once at Christmas and went on a rooftop tour. We got to see the gargoyles up close and personal! They had it decorated for Christmas - amazing! The tree in one part of the house was so huge, that they had full size tricycles as decorations hanging on it! They also have a vineyard there and we participated in a wine tasting.

6. Rhine Valley, Germany
After about 3 weeks traveling around German with a band, my husband and I took a brief vacation to the Rhine valley before heading home to America. We found a little inn online, and made all transactions that way. It was a nice place and the owners were very helpful. It was quite a walk from the train station though, we sure did get our exercise. We spent our few days riding the train up and down the Rhine river looking at various things such as all the old Castles, especially Rheinfels Castle. You could explore it all you wanted, even could go into the dungeon if you had a flashlight. We bought a cuckoo clock while on the Rhine as well, doesn't everyone? Haha.

7. Paphos, Cyprus
While living in Limassol, Cyprus I took several trips to Paphos. There are so many places to visit there, old castles and archeological ruins and such. I went parasailing in the Paphos Harbor (the Mediterranean), that was a lot of fun. I went to see the pillar where they say St. Paul was tied to and whipped on his first missionary journey to Cyprus. There was a big fence around it, so I crawled under it and got my picture taken with it, and then crawled back out. Fun! We went to the Tombs of the Kings which was very much like tombs in Egypt but they'd been dug for the aristocracy in Cyprus.

8. St. Louis, Missouri
While attending some classes in the early 90's in Missouri I took time to go to the St. Louis Arch and we went up to the top where I took some photos. It was a little scary, the elevator was so small and it jerked back and forth as it made it's way to the top. I was not afraid of heights at the time, so I really enjoyed it. Then we ate at a mcdonald's that was in a riverboat near the Arch.

9. Charleston, South Carolina
One of my favorite places to go in my own state. It's very historical and I love going to take photos there. I hope to go again really soon. One visit we did all the touristy things. We took a horse carriage ride through the historical district, and we went on a tour of the old dungeon area where it's said to be haunted. It was spooky. On another trip we ate at a famous restaurant near the old slave market named Hyman's Seafood. Lots of celebrities have eaten there and where they ate is marked by a little marker. There is an awesome place to buy postcards in the old market, and they have a lot of old confederate photos and souvenirs. I hope to go on a ghost tour sometime there, but I'm sure it would be super spooky.

10. Brookgreen Gardens & Atalaya, Murrells Inlet, South Carolina
I love gardens, and this was one I've been to a couple of times, but we never have enough time for me to really spend all day here. It's been only a few hours at a time. I still love it. It's huge and situated near the ocean, as well as the salt marsh. It's near where rice used to be grown and you can go on a boat ride on the old rice fields. It's a sculpture garden, so it's chock full of magnificent sculpture of everything under the sun from mythical creatures to animals, people, etc. Across the street from Brookgreen is Huntington Beach State Park and that is where you find Atalaya, which is an old home built in the style of a moorish castle by the Huntington's who started Brookgreen, as Mrs. Huntington was an avid sculptor.